And then of course there are all 'the other' alignments with the hinge- briefly touched on in their relevant 'chapters;' for there were a total of eight pagan/druidic/pre-christian festivals which celebrated the 'marker-posts' on the sun's annual circum-navigation of the celestial race-track. I call it a race-track because the sun-god and his lunar consort were depicted by the north-European tribes, according to the Roman historianTacitus, as horses.

... they judge it altogether unsuitable to hold the Gods enclosed within walls, or to represent them under any human likeness. ....

    But to this nation it is peculiar, to learn presages and admonitions divine from horses also. These are nourished by the State in the (same) sacred woods and groves, all milk-white and employed in no earthly labour. These yoked in the holy chariot, are accompanied by the Priest and the King, or the Chief of the Community, who both carefully observed his actions and neighing. Nor in any sort of augury is more faith and assurance reposed, not by the populace only, but even by the nobles, even by the Priests. These account themselves the ministers of the Gods, and the horses privy to his will. 

Tacitus, Germania.

Tacitus also reported that the Germanic people (Saxons) followed what he described as the cult of the 'twin brothers,' who were propitiated in the form of a powerful white stallion, rearing up on its hind legs. The presence of England's many white-horse chalk carvings- and their total absence everywhere else, suggests this tradition of 'horse-veneration,' like many other ancient traditions- began in and was exported from these islands- the 'isles of the gods.' Julius Caesar had been informed that the religious beliefs and practices of the continental tribes had originated here in these islands, with the druids.

We've looked a little at the summer and winter solstices- and found no reason to mention the solar or lunar horses there and for good reason- there were no 'signs' of horses, just a very well-hung stud (the Rude Man) and a christmas tree. But when we come to the equinox- the spring one in particular- the horses DO show up, and in several ways. To begin with, when viewed from the blue-stone horse-shoes- the device on the Plain Of Salibury- the vernal equinox aligns with the Broad-Stairs and the twin gates of the ram and mars, on the Isles Of Resurrection, Thanet, in the county of The Weald (the power)- Kent, a county whose emblem is called Invicta- a rearing white horse. Though orthodox historians will disagree, this emblem is associated with Kent because the unconquered, undefeated sun-god- Sol Invicta to the Roman's- rises 'unconquered' and 'undefeated' from the underworld over Kent and Thanet at the spring equinox (viewed from the hinge).

The word 'equinox' comes from the Latin 'equus,' meaning, level and equal, and 'nox,' from 'nox noctis,' night, leading to the accepted meaning:- equal-night, referring to the situation of equality between day and night, sun and moon, male and female, husband and wife (twins) at the vernal and autumnal equinox's. But there's another, associated meaning that qualifies what looks like a simple statement, for 'equus' is also the Latin word for a horse, steed or mount. It's not too much of a stretch of the imagination to arrive at the origins of the phrase we use to describe a bad dream- a night mare- 'nox' night, 'equus,' horse. Of course we know that the nox, or night, is governed by the female power- the moon, so naturally it's a female horse, a mare- THE nightmare.

The 19th card of the Major Arcana, The Sun, demonstrates the connection between the sun and white horses. But horses are not the sole province of pagan veneration, the Bible has its share of equine references too:

I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. Revelation 19:11

And: The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Revelation 19:14

Do you give the horse his strength or clothe his neck with a flowing mane? Do you make him leap like a locust, striking terror with his proud snorting? He paws fiercely, rejoicing in his strength, and charges into the fray. He laughs at fear, afraid of nothing; he does not shy away from the sword.The quiver rattles against his side, along with the flashing spear and lance. In frenzied excitement he eats up the ground; he cannot stand still when the trumpet sounds. At the blast of the trumpet he snorts, ”Aha!”

He catches the scent of battle from afar, the shout of the commanders and the battle cry. Job 39:19-25

Now, when these elements of ancient symbology are all put together and transposed onto the landscape- what you find is, as explained before, the Isle Of Thanet and its history, alignments, legends, place-names and measures. I'll just remind you that it is associated with the numbers 1, 4 and 0 in a variety of ways- it's 140 miles from the hinge; there's a ram's-head temple 104 feet long; there's a settlement named Sevenscore, and when it was an island it measured 10 miles by 4- these are numbers, which, in various combinations are, as mentioned in that chapter, associated with the zodiac sign aries, the spring-equinox, the ten-commandments, easter, the magic of the resurrection. On the island of the 'sun-arise' or sun-aries, there have been for unknown centuries several groups of 'mummers' who, at christmas (the moment when the sun-god is certified 'dead') parade about the island with a gruesome analogy for the dismembered- but mockingly reassembled- sun-god- the 'hooden horse.'

I'll leave it up to the experts, the 'hoodeners' themselves, to tell you what it's about (quoted from their website linked below): Hoodening is an East Kent winter custom dating back many centuries. In its current form, a small band of villagers spend around four days before Christmas touring local pubs and private parties, performing a humorous play along the theme of death and resurrection, drinking a lot of beer, and collecting some money for charity. A new play is written each year in rhyming couplets by one of the troupe, and references to recent events (local, national and international) are frequently included, although the setting is based on a ploughing team from the 19th Century.

Even the ploughing team associates the whole affair with the idea of fertility- fertility in the midst of infertility, deepest winter. Note also that they 'do their rounds' of the villages in the days just before solstice/yule with its sun-set 'activation' of the Rude Man and the roots of the upside-down christmas tree. The ploughmen are out on a revel because they have finished their task and the earth is ready to be fertilised. The horse is always depicted as 'knackered,' and this is because the sun-god is knackered- at the end of his tether...

As briefly alluded to in that particular sign, aries, 'hood' is based on the various Anglo-Saxon words for the head, 'had' 'hed' and 'hod.' Aries is the sign which governs the head- the rising sun is symbolically 'god's head.' In the olden days Thanet WAS an island, cut off from the mainland by the Wansum Channel, it took the form of a severed-head. But, mirroring the miracle of Osiris' resurrection, the island healed its deadly wound and reattached itself to the body which is the mainland of Kent. I say Osiris partly because he was universally known in antiquity, is usually depicted wearing rams-horns (aries) and the number 14 is central to his resurrection tale (he was dismembered into 14 parts).. AND the place-name on the island Ozengal is, I believe, an indirect reference to him, as in Anglo-Saxon 'oz' is 'os,' and, according to the Anglo-Saxon dictionary, this is 'esa,' a divinity. 'Gal,' stuck on the end of the word is 'galdre,' a wizard, enchanter, magician etc, etc. Ozen is also a word-form of another creative, primal god, Odin, who is also name-checked all over the island and nearby areas- Woodnesborough (Odin's Borough); Woodchurch (church of Odin); Hoaden (quiet 'h'); Hoades Wood. Odin it was who defeated the ice-monster and formed the world of men. He is undefeated, unconquered- he is Invicta! The God of the Old Testament, El, also shows up at least twice on the isle- Alpha Road Birchington and Alpha Road Ramsgate. These particular gods are all the 'heads' of their particular pantheons. Alpha, you'll recall, corresponds to the first letter of every alpha-bet in existence, including astrology (aries 1st house) and the tarot where it represents 'The Magician' and 'The Will'- these all metaphors for the Creative Will of God and its 'cosmic-reflection' in the region of planet earth, the spring-equinox sunrise. A rearing white horse.

A few place-names in equinoctial alignment with the island which relate strongly to the themes of heads and severance,decidedly 'cutting' and wounding connotations: Sarre- to 'saw' (cut) and 'sore' (painful); Chislet (cut- carve- stab); Gore.

So that's the spring-equinox dealt with, though, as I keep telling you- we've merely scratched the surface. We'll now move on to the autumnal, libran equinox.